Laugh at the crass footballers, but do not resent their wealth

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“The greatest steriliser of inspiration, the greatest deadener of originality, the greatest destroyer of talent.”Proust on snobbery

On May 18, 1922, a dinner party was held at the Majestic, a hôtel de grand luxe on the Avenue Kleber in Paris. The guests included Igor Stravinsky, Serge Diaghilev, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Proust and James Joyce. It is a safe assumption, then, that the party was not organised by Rio Ferdinand. There was no Barry White music.

Joyce was drunk and out of his depth socially; Proust, turning up late, charmed everybody except Stravinsky, whom he expected to share his worshipful